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1. A 65 year old woman wants her 70 year old husband to receive
treatment that will enable him to fulfill the mitzvah of onah [mari-
tal relations]. The husband however refuses and the couple want to
know the Torah’s view. How do I answer them?

2. A number of treatments are available nowadays for treating lack
of virility. These include: 1. use of a pump; 2. Viagara pills; 3. Muse;
4. injections; 5. therapy – conversation and therapy to modify behav-
ioral patterns.

Is there a problem with using injections on Shabbos [the area re-
quires disinfection with a cotton swab – does this involve sechitah i.e.
squeezing out liquid? – but of greater concern is that the injection
may cause bleeding] or is treatment with pills preferable?

3. Are there grounds for divorce if a husband can only fulfill his
conjugal obligations through medical intervention?

Dr. Menachem Chaim Breier, Head
Physician of the Geriatric Center,
Givat Hashloshah, Petach Tikvah

ɳ Response

Response to Question One: As mentioned above, a husband must
receive treatment so that he can fulfill his marital obligations to his
wife, however, this obligation is only binding at an age when a regular
person can fulfill it but owing to his personal weakness is unable to do
so. In such a case he must receive medical treatment [with one of the
measures mentioned in Question Two]. If the husband has reached
an advanced age at which others lose their potency, he does not have
to make special effort to regain his potency and recapture his youth.
Regarding old age the gemara in maseches Shabbos (152a) observes,
“The restorer of domestic harmony is nullified.” At exactly how ad-
vanced an age potency is lost remains to be clarified. It is possible that
at seventy, potency has generally not yet been lost.

Response to Question Two: A further issue here is the rabbinical
decree forbidding the use of medicines on Shabbos for minor con-

134 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein